Youthful, clean-cut, and well dressed he is the very model of the man that townsfolk might want to represent law and order in their frontier community.

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It is seldom that a classic old west style badge is so clearly displayed is a period photograph. It all likelihood this man was a county sheriff of town marshal since by this time deputy United States marshal's already had distinctively unique badges.

 

One minute and interesting detail in the photo is the man’s diamond-studded horseshoe tie tack.

 

While it is often risky to guess the ethnicity of people in old photographs such as this one, I believe that this lawman may well have been Hispanic. A surprising number of lawmen were in fact Hispanic with my own 5th cousin Elfego Baca being a prime example. Baca’s exploits were notable enough that Walt Disney featured him in the 1958-59 broadcast of The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca.

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1/6th Plate Tinype

Unknown Photographer

Western United States

c. 1880

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